ChemPubSoc Europe and Wiley-VCH have named Dr. Haymo Ross as Editor-in-Chief of Chemistry – A European Journal, succeeding Dr. Neville Compton per October 1, 2017. The appointment was confirmed at a recent meeting between the owners of the journal (16 national chemical societies from Europe allied in the ChemPubSoc Europe organization) and Wiley-VCH. In addition, Haymo Ross heads all editorial offices of the ChemPubSoc Europe journals.

Here, he talks to Dr. Vera Koester for ChemViews Magazine about the uniqueness of ChemPubSoc Europe, his career path, and what he enjoys most about publishing.

What fascinates you about the idea of ChemPubSoc Europe?

The formation of ChemPubSoc Europe in the wake of the merger of several chemistry journals owned by European chemical societies proves that unity is strength. Most of the individual ChemPubSoc Europe societies are too small to run a publishing house of their own but with Wiley-VCH as the publishing partner they have created an awesome portfolio of different chemistry journals. By the way, the royalties they receive form an essential part of the income for all our societies.

Just recently a new journal,Batteries & Supercaps, has been launched, so including the ChemViews Magazine, there are now 15 ChemPubSoc Europe journals. Also, the 16 member societies uphold the European spirit, which is something I miss these days when I follow European politics.

How did you decide to move from active science to publishing?

The first two papers I wrote as a Ph.D. student were submitted to journals I would later be working for, which, of course, I did not know at that time. These were Angewandte Chemie and Liebigs Annalen, one of the predecessor journals of European Journal of Organic Chemistry (EurJOC). I found the interaction with the editors at different stages of the publishing process rather interesting. It was this experience that prompted me to think that I might enjoy being an editor of a chemistry journal.

When I submitted further manuscripts to other journals I did not experience that level of interaction with the editorial office again. A fateful coincidence came when I was putting the finishing touches to my thesis: When I read an advert for a trainee position at Angewandte Chemie, I dropped everything and applied for the job, which I was offered in the end.

Tell us a bit about how your career has developed.

After my trainee year, I became Associate Editor at Angewandte Chemie and was promoted to Deputy Editor two years later. Supported by my mentor Peter Gölitz, I became EurJOC’s first Editor-in-Chief when an in-house editorial office was established for that journal while keeping my position at Angewandte.

When Peter Gölitz retired last autumn, Neville Compton, hitherto Editor-in-Chief of Chemistry – A European Journal and the other Deputy Editor of Angewandte Chemie, became his successor. I was appointed as the new Editor-in-Chief of Chemistry – A European Journal.

What do you enjoy most about publishing?

It never gets boring. I mean that. People may think it is just routine work but even after 20 years, there can be surprises. And, after all, scholarly publishing is a rapidly changing business, which by itself is challenging.

Haymo Ross studied chemistry at the Technical University of Braunschweig and the University of Kiel, both Germany, where he received his doctoral degree in organic chemistry in 1997. In the same year, he joined Wiley-VCH as a member of the Angewandte Chemie editorial team. From 2000 to 2017 he was a Deputy Editor of Angewandte Chemie and from 2003 to 2017 he was the Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Organic Chemistry (EurJOC). He joined Chemistry – A European Journal as Editor-in-Chief in October 2017 and is responsible for the ChemPubSoc Europe journals at Wiley-VCH.

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